Lewis Stakes – Grade III [KYD]
1 Mile Dirt Graded Stake Purse $100.000 Three-Year-Olds. At SA
Lewis Stakes is not offering a lot of depth or experience. At $100.000, most of the really big contenders are heading for the really big dollars and big points. That leaves us with a lot of upstarts trying to get going down the KYD trail. And there are some pretty damn nice young horses in here, starting with lightly raced Fandom…. only two starts with two wins, great works and everything to like. Then there’s Express Run which won his first dirt stakes race this year. Mysterious Drummer Boy which has never made a mile on the dirt And so it goes, with so much youth eager for the starting gate to open there’s bound to be a few surprises. Here’s the field:
Horse Owner Odds SRF
Fandom Aer Stables *2-1 95
Express Run Alydar Stables 5-2 93
Drummer Boy D J C Racing Stables 4-1 91
Sinissipi Swinger TwinTowersRacing 4-1 93
El Jefe Night Rider Stables 5-1 94
Haggis Smoothie The Sidley Stud 6-1 88
Decima Tech The Sidley Stud 6-1 93
Heel Turn Bigchief Stables 8-1 96
Risky Endeavor La Canada Racehorses 10-1 91
Benevento Riggins Racing 12-1 91
Quantum Pursuit Mb Stables 20-1 89
Wine Spectator Big Guns Stables 20 1 87
ae-Florida Fort Knox Family Racing 30-1 91
ae-Check Engine Pan Farms 30-1 88
ae-Peranakan Robeth 30 1 90
1 Heel Turn Bigchief Stables 96
Only four races for Heel Turn, but his second in the grade 3 Iroquois at CD was enough to get him a slot in the BC Juvenile which was a strong closing fifth in the 14-horse field that earned a 96 SRF, the highest last SRF in this race. That was back in October and unfortunately no mile works to support his absence, so that’s all we have to go on and the six-furlong works are average.
2 El Jefe Night Rider Stables 94
El Jefe graduated from claiming ranks with a second-place finish in the State restricted $160.000 NM Thoroughbred Futurity at ALB followed with a win at the State restricted $150.000 NM Classic Juvenile at ZIA. He then attempted the seven-furlong grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at SA where he was closing too late but showed promise that the extra furlong will help here.
3 Risky Endeavor La Canada Racehorses 91
Risky Endeavor Comes from a stable with a reputation for getting his entries tight no matter their placement, and placement is the problem here. The horse has six races and never so much as considered a stakes race of any level. He’s sharp. He’s fit. He’s never failed to place. Now, his mile works are beautiful and getting better each work toward race day.
4 Sinissipi Swinger TwinTowersRacing 93
Sinissipi Swinger comes in here off two sprint wins and nothing but sprint works, so it’s a bit of a swing in the dark as to whether he will carry that speed out to a mile and beyond. His connections think he will, hence the little gold crown past his name there. They have believed in him as a stakes horse since day one and their faith was rewarded with a victory in the $125.000 TP Prevue last month.
5 Quantum Pursuit Mb Stables 89
Quantum Pursuit won a big-ticket maiden at SA at second asking and is owned by a stable that can afford to take the plunge. His works are beyond excellent including a 1:37 flat dirt mile after the win, so not to be taken lightly.
6 Drummer Boy D J C Racing Stables 91
Drummer Boy took a little time to break his maiden but did so as soon as he got some grass under his hooves and then went on to run second in the $150.000 Bongard and first in the $100.000 Pulpit at GP, both on turf. After taking December off, he switched back to dirt and ran an even fifth in the ten horse $125.000 Pasco Stakes at TAM. He posted a sharp mile work in December and broke his maiden at a mile on turf, so he figures to improve with the extra panel here.
7 Decima Tech The Sidley Stud 93
Decima Tech, The Sidley Stud’s “other” entry, just won the State Bred $50.000 WV Futurity Stakes in his usual deep closer fashion. He was pretty impressive in the grade 1 Pharoah Stakes at SA where he finished fifth deep closing to within a length at the wire. He’s been off since November but busy with a sparkling 1:37 flat dirt mile work at PRX.
8 Express Run Alydar Stables 95
Express Run finished off an impressive year of turf racing winning three of his five starts, ending the year on a high note winning his last two starts. He then started the new year off by going to GP and switching to dirt to try the $150.000 Mucho Macho Man backed by a sparkling 1:37 flat dirt work and scored a third straight win… a nice come from behind performance in a crowded field that makes him sure to be one of the favourites in this race.
9 Wine Spectator Big Guns Stables 87
Wine Spectator is a four-start maiden which has placed in every start, including a nose second in the $225.000 Brown at CD sprinting, but not to worry about the mile in that he was just second in a high price SA maiden that was won in 1:34 4/5… his last work was 1:37 flat for the dirt mile. Some maiden.
10 Haggis Smoothie The Sidley Stud 88
Haggis Smoothie won his first two races and proceeded to place in every race thrown at him including a win in the State restricted $200.000 NY Breeders Futurity at FL until the 1 1/16 mile found him out in the grade 2 LA Futurity. Now, maybe he can’t route, maybe the extra 1/16 mile is the problem, maybe there is no problem, after all, he was actually gaining at the wire. His works say he will be just fine with a mile and right there at the wire.
11 Fandom Aer Stables 95
Fandom, an April foal, didn’t appear on the track until late November when he won at first asking in a TA maiden sprint. Six weeks later, he won the $100.000 Allison Derby at SUN in a 1:34 4/5 mile. His works are sharp. He has Derby written all over him. The only thing that could hamper him is the unfortunate post position, but he looks a speedy sort that should be able to overcome that.
12 Benevento Riggins Racing 91
Benevento had a spectacular turf season last year, winning the grade 3 OT Juvenile Turf at DR, placing third in the grade 2 Pilgrim and second in the BC Juvenile Turf all in deep closer fashion… hard to get that kind of consistency from a deep closer; but then two months off and a change to dirt in the $250.000 Smarty Jones caught him out and he finished up the track. Now we have to find out if he needed the race or he needed turf.
Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES